Nurses Reach Deal With Kaiser to Stay Unionized
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A tentative, five-year contract agreement reached Friday between the California Nurses Assn. and Kaiser Permanente would exempt nurses at 70 Kaiser facilities in the state from a highly anticipated federal ruling that could limit the ability of nurses to join a union.
A spokeswoman for Kaiser confirmed there was a tentative agreement but declined to comment further. The agreement, which must be ratified by union members, covers 14,000 registered nurses and nurse practitioners in Northern and Central California. It includes raises totaling 26.5% over five years.
The National Labor Relations Board is expected to issue a decision in the next several weeks that could declare thousands of workers across the country, including nurses, to be supervisors because they delegate tasks to other employees.
As supervisors, they would be ineligible for union representation. But according to language provided by the union, Kaiser agreed that it would not “claim that any nurse or job classification covered by this agreement exercises supervisory authority” even in the event of a labor board action.
“We’ll be using this as a template for other employers in California,” said nurses association President Deborah Burger, who is a Kaiser nurse in Santa Rosa.
Kaiser nurses in Southern California are represented by a different bargaining unit and are not covered by this agreement.
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